JPH075199B2 - Transfer paper supply device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, and more particularly to an improvement of a large-capacity transfer sheet feeding device provided with a multi-stage transfer sheet storage unit separately from a main body. It is related to.

(Prior Art) Recently, a large-capacity transfer paper unitized as a whole by providing a large number of transfer paper accommodating units separately from the copying machine main body in parallel in the vertical direction and a single vertically movable paper feeding device. A feeding device has been proposed.

In most of the seed transfer paper supply devices, the transfer paper storage unit (tray) is horizontally moved between a paper feed position and a non-paper feed position (home position). The device does not consider a mechanism for pulling out the tray in a state where the pickup roller and the uppermost sheet are engaged at the sheet feeding position. Therefore, there is a drawback that it takes time and effort to replenish the selected tray with the transfer paper or take out the jammed paper.

(Purpose) The present invention has been made based on such a background.
The purpose is to be able to pull out the tray even when there is an error such as a paper jam or when the power is turned off.

(Structure) Therefore, the present invention is characterized in that the movement of the tray can be performed not only by driving the motor in a normal state but also by manual operation.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is an example in which the copying machine main body 1 and the transfer paper supply device 2 are provided separately and used in combination. In the embodiment, the transfer paper supply device 2 is equipped with 6 trays 7 and can store six kinds of transfer papers P. The tray 7 is engaged by a cam 9 on the tray pedestal 8 so as to be movable in the directions A and B in the figure. The tray pedestal 8 is a rail member.
It is engaged with the main body frame of the transfer paper feeding device 2 through 10 via the frame 10 so as to be freely drawn out in the front direction in FIG. The cam 9 is selectively driven by a clutch not shown in the drawing. This clutch may be either half rotation or one rotation. In the case of a half rotation clutch, the tray 7 operates in a state where it is always in contact with the cam 9, and in the case of a one rotation clutch, when the tray 7 moves by the cam 9 in the maximum amount in the A direction, it moves in the B direction by the stopper. You just have to stop it.

The paper feeding device 3 is vertically movably engaged with the main body frame via a guide member, and is vertically moved by a motor 5 via a wire 4.

The operation and details of each part will be described below. It is assumed that the user has selected any one tray out of six trays. According to the selection command, first, when the sheet feeding device 3 is above the selected tray 7 and the maximum number of transfer sheets is placed, the calling roller 11 does not contact the uppermost sheet (δ> 0 in FIG. 2).
Go to and stop.

Next, the selected tray 7 is fed by the cam 9 to the paper feeding position (first
When it is pushed out in the direction (A in the figure) and stopped, the sheet feeding device 3 descends. Then, the call roller 11 and the transfer sheet P come into contact with each other, and the position of the sheet feeding device 3 is controlled so that the inclination angle θ of the arm 12 of the call roller 11 shown in FIG. 3 is always within a certain range. This is achieved by the same control means as the control method in which the sheet feeding device 3 is lowered as the number of transfer sheets P decreases during copying. When θ is within the determined range, the sheet feeding device 3 is stopped and the copy is ready.

When the user pushes down the copy button, each roller of the sheet feeding device 3 is driven by a driving device not shown in the drawing, and the transfer sheets P are fed one by one. The fed transfer paper P is turned in the paper feeding device 3 at the same time as being separated, and is transferred to the copying machine main body 1 by two conveyor belts 6 arranged in front of and behind the paper feeding device 3 in FIG. It is conveyed vertically and a copy operation is performed in the copying machine.

Further, when an abnormality such as a paper jam occurs, the sheet feeding device 3 is opened around the 0 point as shown by the one-dot chain line in the drawing together with the conveying path, and the transfer sheet remaining in the machine can be removed. Since both of the sheet feeding devices 3 are opened, it is possible to remove all the transfer sheet remaining in the device without pulling out the tray 7. Further, maintenance (replacement, cleaning) of each roller forming the sheet feeding device 3 can be easily performed.

FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 are views showing the tray portion according to the embodiment.

The tray 7 is movably engaged with the tray pedestal 8 by the rail member 17, and the spring member 19 constantly applies a force in the cam 9 direction (the arrow B direction in the drawing). Cam 9
Is selectively driven through a one-rotation clutch, and tray 7
The tray 7 is prevented from returning in the direction of arrow B by a stopper (not shown) when is moved in the direction of arrow A by the maximum amount. When this stopper is removed, the tray 7 is retracted from the paper feeding position by the spring member 19 (moves in the direction of arrow B).

The transfer paper placing portion is composed of a tray 7 and a bottom plate 36 that is rotatably engaged with the tray 7 in the up-down direction (directions of arrows I and H) with 36 'as a fulcrum, and a cam member is provided below the bottom plate 36. 41 is fixed.

The pull-out lever 22 is connected to the tray holder 8 via the guide member 37.
Is supported slidably in the direction of arrow G in the figure, and pin members 39 and 40 are fixed on the guide member 37. Pin 39
Is in contact with a cam member 41 at the bottom of the bottom plate 36 through a hole formed in the tray 7, and the pin 40 is engaged with a groove cam 42 provided at the bottom of the tray 7. Although not shown, the tray pedestal 8 is supported by the feeder main body via a rail member.

When the tray 7 is pushed out by the cam 9 to the paper feeding position (the direction of arrow A in the figure), the pin 39 and the cam member 41 come into contact with each other, and the bottom plate 36.
Rotates in the direction of arrow I in the figure and is pushed upward. After that, when the tray 7 is stopped at the paper feeding position, the paper feeding device 3 is lowered, and when stopped at a predetermined position, the transfer paper can be fed. In this embodiment, when the tray in the selected state is pulled out, the user only needs to pull out the lever 22 without waiting for the movement of the sheet feeding device 3. The operation will be described below.

When the user pulls out the selected tray, when the pull-out lever 22 is pulled in the direction of arrow G in the figure, both the pins 39 and 40 also move in the direction of G. The pin 39 and the cam member 41 are separated by the movement of the pin, and as a result, the bottom plate 36 descends in the direction of arrow H in the figure. The lowering amount of the bottom plate is such that when the calling roller 11 is in a free state, it rotates downward through the arm 12 to reach the lowest point (stopped by a stopper (not shown)) and the calling roller 11. It is the amount up to the point where is not touched.
The bottom plate 36 descends. In other words, when the pin 39 and the cam member 41 are separated from each other, if the stopper that stops the tray 7 from returning in the direction of the arrow B is released in conjunction with the stroke of the pullout lever 22, the tray 7 is retracted from the paper feeding position. (Arrow B
Move in the direction). Since the retracting operation of the tray 7 is interlocked with the pullout lever 22 by the pin 40 and the groove cam 42,
This is performed in synchronization with the user's operation of pulling the pull-out lever 22. When the evacuation of the tray 7 is completed (the pin 40 is the groove cam 42
The tray is pulled out toward the front side of the machine (in the direction of arrow G in the figure) by a claw member (not shown) provided on the support member 37 at the point a). With the above operation, the selected tray can be pulled out without waiting time only by pulling the pulling lever 22.

When returning the tray that has been pulled out to the inside of the supply device, if the pulling lever 22 is pushed in the direction opposite to the arrow G direction,
The pin 40 moves from the point a of the groove cam 42 to the point b, and the claw member 38 provided on the support member 37 of the pullout lever 22 causes the tray holder 8 to move.
When the lever 22 is pushed in further, the tray is stored in the supply device. To return to the original selected state, the cam 9 is driven by the switch that detects the state where the tray is completely pushed in, and the tray 7 is pushed out to the sheet feeding position. Alternatively, the groove cam 42 may be shaped like the groove cam 42 'in FIG. 7 and returned to its original state by the stroke of the pull-out lever 22.

Incidentally, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the cam member 41.

Of course, at the time of normal key operation, the motor 5 is driven by an electric signal, and thereby the cam is operated to move the tray 7.

As described above, the means for moving the tray in the feeding direction has two means, that is, a means for driving and moving the cam and a means for manually moving the tray pull-out lever by an electric signal by a normal key operation.

(Effect) As described above, according to the present invention, the transfer paper storage unit is driven by the electric drive means to move to the paper feed position in the paper feed direction, and the transfer paper storage unit is moved to the paper feed position. Yes, and
When the uppermost paper of the transfer paper stored in the transfer paper storage unit and the paper feeding device are in contact with each other, when the transfer paper storage unit is manually moved in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction, In response to the moving operation of the transfer paper storage unit, the contact state between the uppermost paper of the transfer paper stored in the transfer paper storage unit and the paper feeding device is released, so that when an abnormality such as a paper jam occurs, When the power is cut off, the selected transfer paper storage unit can be pulled out without damaging the transfer paper stored inside and without waiting time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an internal mechanism of a transfer paper feeding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing a positional relationship between the uppermost paper and a calling roller during tray selection, and FIG. 3 is tray selection. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a tray portion according to an embodiment, FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the same, and FIG.
The same drawing is a plan view, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are views showing different cams. 3 ... Paper feeding device, 5 ... Motor, 7 ... Transfer paper storage unit,
22 …… Drawer lever.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vertically moving means for vertically stacking a plurality of transfer paper accommodating portions so as to overlap with each other and vertically moving a single paper feeding device to a paper feeding position of the selected transfer paper accommodating portion. A storage unit transfer means for moving the transfer paper storage unit to a paper feeding position in the paper feeding direction, a topmost paper of the transfer papers stored in the transfer paper storage unit moved to the paper feeding position, and the paper feeding device. And a transfer sheet contacting means for contacting the transfer sheet with the transfer sheet in the sheet feeding direction of the transfer sheet storage section driven by the electrical drive means. The transfer operation to the paper position and the contact operation of the uppermost paper of the transfer paper stored in the transfer paper storage unit by the transfer paper contact unit and the paper feeding device are synchronized, and further, the transfer paper storage unit is fed. Movably supported in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the direction The holding means and the transfer paper storage portion are at the paper feed position, and the top paper of the transfer paper stored in the transfer paper storage portion is brought into contact with the paper feeding device by the transfer paper contact means. In the state, when the transfer paper storage unit is manually moved in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction, in response to the movement operation of the transfer paper storage unit,
A transfer paper feeding device comprising contact state releasing means for releasing the contact state between the uppermost paper of the transfer paper stored in the transfer paper storage portion by the transfer paper contacting device and the paper feeding device.